How to Organize Storage: Diana Balasheva's Tips

Even perfect design can be ruined by things scattered on chairs, shoes thrown in the hallway, jars of cream in the bathroom, and many other items spreading around like cockroaches. Designer Diana Balasheva tells how to stop entropy.

Diana BalashevaDesignerBlogger, media personality, professional in many areas and just a person who knows how to surprise.1. More Wardrobes Are Never Too Many

When I was a beginning designer, I thought the main enemy of design was the client who didn't accept my wonderful ideas. Then it seemed to me that the main enemy was careless contractors ruining my projects with amateur execution. And the main problem was insufficient budget.

But practice showed: the main enemy of design is clutter. If you don't provide enough convenient wardrobes and storage spaces, or underestimate the volume of goods ordered by clients – goodbye to beauty. Life, like yeast dough, will leak out and destroy the entire design. Therefore, I make wardrobes along all walls and don't spare space for walk-in closets.

2. Finally, Put Things in Order

You can buy the best furniture in the world, choose the most beautiful wall colors and the most expensive curtains, but if there's chaos at home, all this will be a waste of money and effort. Often full inventory, getting rid of unnecessary items, and proper storage give a greater effect than renovation with wallpaper replacement and furniture changes.

In the name of saving design, when planning space, a designer must first anticipate walk-in closets and other storage systems, and only then deal with aesthetics – find style and balance lines. The more area you can allocate to storage, the better for design. Then we have hope that living areas will always remain uncluttered and beautiful, just like on the day of project handover.

3. Don't Be Afraid to Throw Things Away

Storage needs to be systematized. For this, you first need to separate what is needed from what is unnecessary. What is needed should be sold, given away or thrown out, while what is necessary should be kept and stored properly. Living in Moscow costs so much that keeping your child's skis is an unacceptable luxury. If a storage area costs at least 500,000 rubles, is it reasonable to keep old stuff there?

4. Fear Excess

Often people just can't find their things or forget they even have them – too much stuff and too many items crammed into wardrobes. Not finding the right sweater among a pile of clothes, a person buys a new one. And the problem gets worse.

To use wardrobes and storage spaces effectively, there should be fewer items than can fit in them – about 20%. And what a joy when you have a free shelf in your wardrobe!

I believe that for each type of item, you should set aside a separate storage area. A walk-in closet or a separate wardrobe depends on the size of your living space. Each family member should have their own clothing storage zone. Outerwear should be stored separately, all coats in a row, all jackets and all fur coats. Clothes need to be sorted into sportswear, business wear and evening wear. During such inventory, you will find a lot of interesting items in your wardrobe, discover new combinations. I assure you, it will be a day of revelations. But even t-shirts should hang on hangers.

I like to arrange clothes by color, but that’s probably too much – it's a professional deformation. My iPhone app icons are also arranged by color.

5. Consider Where to Store What Best

Shoes should be stored in separate wardrobes or dedicated shoe closets, because shoes arranged at the bottom of several wardrobes can’t be found in time.

Bed linen should be stored in drawer units of a wardrobe, undergarments too.

There should be a separate drawer for lace underwear and another for sportswear, a separate compartment for socks and so on. Spare blankets and pillows are better stored inside the bed with a lifting mechanism. Suitcases should be empty and stored on the back of a walk-in closet – take one and go.

On the kitchen also, you need to plan storage so that grains and pans are not stored where they fit but in a system. All supplies should go into one large cabinet, and utensils into another.

There should also be a dedicated space for everything needed for cleaning and laundry – storage or cabinet.

6. Keep Your Life Under Control!

In the bathroom, plastic bottles on the edge of the bathtub ruin the overall look, so the bathroom needs drawer units and small wardrobes – as many as possible. Everything should be stored systematically, not just shoved where it fits.

When planning a wardrobe not for yourself but for a client, this is quite a responsible task. If you make a mistake, for example, with the height of hangers, the client will constantly have wrinkled coat hems. Or, conversely, it might turn out that he prefers only short jackets and a high section in the wardrobe means inefficient use of space.

And the main advice to everyone – don't let things take over your home, keep your life under control!

Read also:

• Pros and Cons: Open Storage Systems
  
• 10 Ways to Ruin a Perfect Interior
  
• Men's Interior with a Passageway Wardrobe: Project in Mytishchi